MUNI riders transfer at the bus stop on the corner of Fillmore and Geary Streets in the San Francisco, Calif on Thursday January 28, 2010. With the Municipal Transportation Agency facing a $53 million budget deficit next year, they are considering the following recommendations: reduce the frequency of bus and rail service on most routes, equivalent to a 10 percent cut systemwide; charge Fast Pass users a premium for using express buses or cable cars; double the cost of discounted monthly passes for seniors, youth and the disabled to $30. less

MUNI riders transfer at the bus stop on the corner of Fillmore and Geary Streets in the San Francisco, Calif on Thursday January 28, 2010. With the Municipal Transportation Agency facing a $53 million budget ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Overtime, absenteeism draining Muni, audit says

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Muni could save at least $3 million a year by eliminating driver-friendly work rules and reining in overtime, according to an audit released Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors' budget analyst.

An unusually high level of operator absenteeism is expensive and creates unreliable service at San Francisco's financially flailing transit agency, the audit found.

Under the current rules, drivers have a financial incentive to call in sick and skip a regularly scheduled day because they can still work overtime and earn time and a half, even if they have not worked 40 hours that week, according to the audit.

The rate of unscheduled absenteeism for Muni operators is 15 percent, compared with 11 percent in Philadelphia, 6 percent in Los Angeles and 4 percent in Seattle, the audit found.

The audit comes three days after the agency cut service by 10 percent to save an estimated $29 million a year. The agency, with a proposed annual operating budget next year of $750 million, already has raised transit fares and parking fees to help balance the books.

New rules needed

Budget and legislative analyst Harvey Rose conducted the audit, which looked at the agency's governing board and certain labor costs.

It recommends that when Muni management negotiates its next contract with the Transport Workers Union, it curb overtime costs by forcing operators to work 40-hour workweeks before they can earn overtime.

The audit also recommends that Muni stop paying the salaries of six of the seven operators who work full time on union duties, which costs $608,625 a year.

Muni management's inability to use part-time drivers also caught the attention of auditors.

Because peak demand for service is during the morning and evening commutes, overtime is used to keep full-time operators on the clock to cover both rush-hour periods. Many drivers, meanwhile, are pulled off the road during off-peak hours and put on paid, nonproductive standby.

Standby time - which ranges from a few minutes to six hours - is built into 49 percent of Muni's 1,278 regularly scheduled weekday runs.

The current contract expires June 30, 2011, and it's unclear how much leverage management can wield to negotiate the recommended changes. Under a voter-mandated guarantee enacted more than 40 years ago, Muni operators have been at least the second-best paid in the nation.

With the issue of pay off the table, the union has little incentive to change overtime rules or allow part-time drivers to be used, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd said.

Asking voters for change

Elsbernd is gathering signatures for a proposed November ballot initiative that would remove the Muni pay provision from the City Charter and instead require transit workers to reach a pay deal through collective bargaining.

"You have the budget analyst all but saying, 'Sign the petition,' " Elsbernd said.

Union representatives were not available for comment Tuesday. Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the Municipal Transportation Agency, has not taken a public position on the proposed charter change but said he is hampered "by some of the work rules that limit Muni's ability to be more effective and efficient." Elsbernd's proposal does not have the endorsement of any other supervisor or Mayor Gavin Newsom. The audit also is silent on the proposed charter change. The audit, however, is being used by Supervisors David Campos, Ross Mirkarimi and David Chiu, in an attempt to weaken the mayor's control over the agency's governing board.

Seeking independent control

They are contemplating a November ballot measure to give supervisors a portion of the appointments and retain their ability to have final say over the mayor's picks. Now, supervisors have the ability only to reject the mayor's nominees.

To further their cause, they point to audit findings that say the Municipal Transportation Agency governing board should provide more oversight over agency finances, conduct more regular audits to assess the performance of the agency, and more clearly define its own governance role.

"Is the board of directors of the MTA providing the kind of independent, proactive oversight of the agency? It seems the answer is no," said Campos, who requested the audit.

Tom Nolan, who chairs the transportation board, defended the board's work and said directors closely track the agency's budget, ask hard questions and respond to public opinion as they set policy.

"We're doing our job," he said.

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